A Peek into Clarence House

The first room is the Garden room and the Second room is called the Morning Room.

Clarence House for many years was the home of H.M Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Upon her death her favourite grandchild HRH The Prince of Wales with his wife the Duchess of Cornwall now live there with Prince's William and Harry.

The pictures show the transformation after Prince Charles with the help of his wife renovated and redecorated Clarence House to their own taste.

Mrs Beeton-A Life

Isabella Mary Mayson (1836-1865), universally known as Mrs Beeton, was the author of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management and is the most famous cookery writer in British history.

Isabella was born at 24 Milk Street, Cheapside, London. Her father Benjamin Mason died when she was young and her mother Elizabeth Jerram remarried a Henry Dorling. She was sent to school in Heidelberg in Germany and afterward returned to her stepfather's home in Epsom.

On a visit to London she was introduced to Samuel Orchard Beeton, a publisher of books and popular magazines, and on July 10, 1856 they were married. She began to write articles on cooking and household management for her husband's publications and between 1859 and 1861 she wrote a monthly supplement to The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine. The supplements were subsequently published in October 1861 as a single volume entitled - The Book of Household Management Comprising various information for the Mistress, Housekeeper, Cook, Kitchen-Maid, Butler etc, – also Sanitary, Medical, & Legal Memoranda: with a History of the Origin, Properties, and Uses of all Things Connected with Home Life and Comfort.

The book (usually referred to as Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management) was essentially a guide to running a Victorian era household. It contained advice on fashion, child-care, animal husbandry, poisons, the management of servants, science, religion, industrialism and a very large number of recipes (it is often called Mrs Beeton's Cookbook). Of the 1,112 pages over 900 contained recipes. Most of the recipes were illustrated with coloured engravings and it was the first book to show recipes in a format that is still used today.

After giving birth to her fourth child in January 1865, Isabella contracted puerperal fever and died a week later at age 28.

Sophies Choice-HRH. Countess of Wessex

The introduction of Sophie Rhys Jones into the rather claustrophobic world of the Royal family may be the fresh air they need.

Sophie seems to have the common sense lacking in the previous Duchess of York and is not consumed by the vulnerabilities of the late Princess of Wales.

She also seems to have struck just the right chord with her rather austere mother in Law, Her Majesty the Queen, and also won the admiration of her caustic Father in Law the Duke of Edinburgh, quite an achievement for the girl from Brenchley.

One also has to admire Sophie's courage in her longing for a family even if it puts her own health at risk, which was the case with two of her pregnancies. One pregnancy unfortunately for both Sophie and Edward was an ecoptic pregnancy and the other nearly cost Sophie her life! Though all ended well with the birth of their beloved daughter, Lady Louise Mountbatten Windsor.

It seems out of the three Windsor men, it is Edward's marriage that may succeed where both Charles and Andrew failed. This is due to Sophie’s common sense factor and her willingness to embrace the Royal lifestyle without needing to be the centre of attention.

The Countess of Wessex is also not overly concerned with her image, though she dresses well, she also will not allow herself to be a slave to fashion. Sophie also hasn’t fallen into the 'perfect figure syndrome' that helped make both the Duchess of York and the Princess of Wales, so unhappy and open to neurosis.

Sophie seems to have the confidence that her former sister in laws lacked and that is probably due to her husbands love and acceptance of her as a unique woman who is essential to his happiness. Prince Edward may have learned some valuable lessons from his brother’s disastrous marriages and that of his sister Anne, in that he supports Sophie in all she does and the same goes for Sophie who supports Edward in his enterprises.

They seem to be a couple who are happy in their domestic arrangements and their daughter is the centre of their lives as they live out the domestic bliss that Charles and Andrew missed out on.

Unlike the failed marriage of Charles, Andrew and Anne, it seems Sophie and Edward are traveling the same path, and in the right direction.

Let us hope that all continues to go well for the future life of Their Royal Highnesses The Earl and Countess of Wessex.